"Reactions in Chemistry"

Reactions in Chemistry is an eight-part workshop for the professional development of high school chemistry and physical science teachers. The workshop blends chemistry content, history, and technological applications with a range of classroom lessons to provide teachers with updated knowledge and new approaches to pedagogy. Teachers will see diverse classes doing hands-on lessons and labs and will hear teachers reflect on their own practices. The on-camera teachers meet in roundtable discussions about teaching strategies and the particular challenges of helping students connect the content to their own lives. The programs also present the work of industrial and forensic chemists and researchers.

This program emphasizes the importance of learning about energetics and dynamics in order to improve students’ understanding of basic principles of chemistry. The complexity of teaching concepts such as the collisions theory, reaction kinetics, and e...lectronic energy levels is introduced using a variety of teaching strategies. These concepts are related to everyday phenomena through topics such as nuclear and solar energy, which are brought about as examples for nuclear chemistry.[more]

This program deals with teaching the very first steps of chemistry. It introduces the basic building blocks — the atoms — which, through their properties, periodicity and binding, form molecules. The program offers different ways to represent these b...asic concepts by creating useful models in the minds of new chemistry students. It follows the development of these concepts through history and their use in modern technology.[more]

This program deals with the conceptualization of micro processes and environments. It involves teaching chemistry through macro phenomena, which can be observed, and micro processes, which occur on the molecular level, and can only be imagined. Conce...ptual change must occur in order for students to understand chemical phenomena. Teaching for conceptual change poses a great challenge to teachers, because they must create imaginary and physical models in order to help students visualize microenvironments and processes that occur within them.[more]

This program discusses the chemistry of the wonders of life. It starts off with the way life began, and goes on to deal with the structure and function of biological molecules. It emphasizes the value of relating chemical principles to biology studie...s, and states that living organisms are huge chemical systems in equilibrium. Thus, learning processes are based on the chemistry of life, and this program shows how effective classroom strategies aim at enhanced learning.[more]

This program introduces the chemistry of the environment. It addresses selected topics such as water quality and purification, recycling, and the hole in the ozone layer. Bringing the students to awareness of these topics helps them understand import...ant issues in the world around them. In studying chemistry, environmental studies or anything else, the classroom climate is an important issue as well, and the teacher can influence it a great deal.[more]

This program deals with basic concepts that are required for the understanding of chemical design. The idea is brought about by experiences from everyday life, such as the stoichiometry of baking, the ingredients of soft drinks, the components of dru...gs, and the chromatography of markers. The tools of the chemical designer — the chemist — are found in the laboratory, and the procedure which leads to the development of new materials is based on scientific investigation. These tools are applied to chemistry teaching in the classroom and to the facilitating of laboratory learning.[more]

This program shows how a theoretical understanding of the driving force for chemical systems can lead to further development of new technologies and to the discovery of new phenomena, in practice. In teaching, this is done through the creation of a c...lose relationship between the science and mathematics of chemical processes, through problem-solving activities. These activities, which are based on a systematic interpretation of chemistry into mathematics, make the connection between theory and practice. These basic skills form the foundation for learning about chemical systems.[more]

In the last program, cutting–edge technologies are presented, where chemistry is at the interface with other disciplines: tissue engineering, deciphering of the human genome, and agricultural resources for new materials. The future of technology is i...ncorporated into the chemistry classroom, motivating the students with exciting real–world applications and contributing to teaching. The workshop ends with a discussion: What is quality in teaching and how does it influence chemistry students and teachers?[more]

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